Government

Open Government Services & Data

Today businesses expect to be able to consume information services via Cloud based software
interfaces – that is, the "users" are not humans, but software applications that process
the data and perform some useful function within the business. The rapid speed of technological
innovation means that government agencies worldwide are challenged in terms of expertise in the
development and maintenance of resilient Cloud services.

Whilst government directives and related ICT strategies correctly identify demand and the
need for action, they offer little in terms of concrete steps for mastering the challenges posed
by the variety and velocity dimensions of
Big Data. Agencies need to:

Construct concrete business cases to invest in open public sector information.

Be equipped with the methodologies and techniques that are needed to productise
information services capable of handling fast-changing information that comes in hundreds
and thousands of variants.

Overcome the analysis paralysis that easily arises in scenarios that require cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Methodologies and techniques required to design and operate adaptive and resilient Cloud services
have their origin in domain engineering and the
DevOps movement. The
MODA + MODE methodology
addresses the challenges of variety and velocity head-on.

Open Government Laws and Code

Large scale global Cloud data mining by governments in the US, Europe and China has led to concerns about
industrial espionage and privacy. Open source code and appropriate tools are required to enable
the public to police the code that implements privacy legislation and other laws.

Designing Adaptive Organisations and Resilient Services

There are two kinds of feedback loops in social-ecological systems that are often ignored:

Feedbacks across different levels of scale

Feedbacks between ecological and social systems

Identifying feedback loops across different levels of scale is challenging
in any domain involving complex systems. Typically experts focus on one particular level of scale
and assume the next level up or down is well taken care of by experts in corresponding domains/disciplines.
There is always room for improving inter-disciplinary collaboration.

Adaptive and resilient logistical networks

The coordination of people, facilities, and resources is an ongoing challenge in a rapidly evolving economic and ecological context. Logistical capabilities represent the glue in the value cycle that includes suppliers, internal operations, and customers.